Ukrainian civilians continued to face Russia’s daily drone, missile, and artillery assaults, with Moscow strikes killing at least 6 civilians and injuring 19 across multiple oblasts yesterday and last night.

Last night, Russia launched a smaller wave of long-range explosive drones than usual—only three dozens instead of usual hundreds, but still inflicted deadly strikes. Russian Shahed drones, FPVs, missiles, and other weapons hurt Ukrainian civilians across Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

Ukraine’s Air Force says it has intercepted or jammed most long-range drones. Despite that, multiple strikes landed, including one in Sumy that killed a man trapped under rubble after Russia launched a second drone before rescuers could reach him.

Ukraine downs 33 drones—but six hit civilian targets

Ukraine’s Air Force reported on 12 September that Russia launched 40 strike drones, including Shahed explosive drones, Gerbera decoys, and others, from Kursk, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk. Over 20 of them were Shaheds, capable of carrying up to 90 kg of explosives. The attack began at 22:00 on 11 September and continued overnight. Air defense forces, mobile units, electronic warfare systems, and drone systems responded.

Sumy: Guard killed under rubble, teenagers injured, rescue blocked

On the morning of 12 September, Sumy experienced multiple explosions. Acting Mayor Artem Kobzar confirmed that two of them were drone strikes on a non-residential building. Suspilne noted the facility was a car service station. The attack targeted Sumy’s industrial area in Zarichnyi district, damaging infrastructure, transport, and multiple non-residential buildings.

According to the head of the oblast, Oleh Hryhorov, a 65-year-old security guard initially survived the first hit and contacted others. But after a second Russian drone struck, contact was lost. His body was later found beneath the debris.

Hryhorov said emergency services could not immediately conduct rescue and cleanup due to a Russian ZALA drone hovering above the area, blocking access to the site. The ZALAs are Russian reconnaissance drones, adjusting missile and drone strikes.

Elsewhere in Sumy oblast, in Velykopysarivska hromada, a Russian FPV drone hit a field road, injuring two 16-year-old teenagers who were riding a motorcycle.

Also in Sumy Raion, on the evening of 11 September, a Russian FPV drone struck a civilian car, injuring a 19-year-old girl, who was hospitalized.

On the morning of 12 September, Russia launched a missile strike on the Bytytsia rural community, part of the Sumy hromada, killing an unspecified number of people.

Yesterday’s attacks also targeted multiple civilian buildings. On 11 September, Russia damaged a hospital, school, vocational college, and homes in Sumy. Later, a Russian drone struck the Voskresenskyi Cathedral, breaking windows and damaging the structure. Earlier that morning, a Molniya drone hit a household on Kulykivska Street.

Local authorities report: Russia targets civilians across Ukraine

• Zaporizhzhia Oblast: In Primorske, a man died after a Russian drone strike on 11 September. The following day, a Russian airstrike hit Uspenivka, killing another man.
• Kharkiv Oblast: In Kupiansk district, Russian forces attacked Kivsharivka with artillery, injuring a paramedic and a medical technician when their ambulance came under fire. In Osynove, an FPV drone hit a police vehicle, injuring five officers. In Hrushivka, a Russian airstrike injured three civilians.
• Donetsk Oblast: Russian aviation struck Kostyantynivka with high-explosive bombs. A resident was pulled from the rubble alive, while another died, with their body still under debris.
• Kherson Oblast: Russian shelling injured a man in Kherson, a woman in Bilozerka, and a man in Mykilske. All were hospitalized, and one of them is in serious condition.
• Dnipropetrovsk Oblast: Russia attacked Nikopol and Synelnykove districts, injuring two women. Fires broke out, including in residential buildings.

Today, there are interesting updates from the Sumy direction.

Here, Ukrainians have completely annihilated the Russian Sumy offensive from the air, launching devastating strikes all across the board. With even redeployed air defense assets falling victim to Western-supplied bombs, Russian operations are falling apart at the seams as each sector is meticulously targeted without mercy.

Ukrainian forces dismantle Russian air defenses before launching full-scale aerial assault

Ukraine’s armed forces have decisively crushed the Russian offensive into Sumy by cutting off their supply and reinforcement routes through continuous targeting from the air.

This success was made possible by Ukraine’s systematic clearing of the skies, with Russian air defense assets stretched across the entire frontline being repeatedly hunted down. Buk and Tor systems, deployed to protect Russian command posts and depots, became prime targets. In one case, a Russian Tor system continuously hampered Ukrainian attempts at air strikes, resulting in the air defense system becoming the target instead. In another, a Russian Tor battery malfunctioned trying to intercept a Ukrainian air strike, with the missile veering off course and striking a nearby Russian ammunition storage instead. Additionally, Ukrainian operators used fiber-optic FPV drones to stalk and destroy Buk launchers. With these systems eliminated or suppressed, the preparation was done, and the Ukrainian strike aircraft were free to operate over the front.

Western bombs shatter Russian spearhead near Tyotkino and across Kursk

The first major blow landed near Tyotkino. Ukrainian fighters used AASM HAMMER bombs and J-dams to strike infantry groups and ammunition stores at Lokot, Tetkino, and Dronivka, while a bridge at Zabolotivka was demolished to sever supply routes.

Drone operators in Glushkovo were targeted with J-dam strikes, while troops sheltering in a grain elevator at Tyotkino were buried under rubble. Additional airstrikes leveled drone coordination centers in Korovyakivka and troop concentrations across Tyotkino, followed by hits on crossings at Zvannoye. Each wave of HAMMERs and J-dams bombs shattered Russian attempts to mass forces, leaving corpses and destroyed buildings across the Kursk villages, feeding the offensive.

Ukrainian aviation strikes deep behind the border, targeting drone hubs and infantry strongholds

Further southeast, on the Sumy side of the border, the blows continued and opened huge gaps in the Russian lines. Ukrainian aviation destroyed bases from where Russian drone operators were operating at Oleksiivka and Loknia, undermining Russian drone support capabilities, before destroying forces concentrations at Kindrativka and Oleksiivka, where Russian infantry had fortified inside of civilian buildings.

In Yunakivka, multiple bridges and troop concentrations were hit, leaving Russian soldiers buried in collapsed structures.

Major General killed as 155th Marine Brigade headquarters destroyed in Korenevo

Perhaps the most devastating blow came in the Kursk region north of the border, where the headquarters of the 155th Marine Brigade was obliterated at Korenevo while preparing for redeployment to Pokrovsk. High-ranking officers, including Major General Gudkov, were killed, gutting the command of one of Russia’s elite formations.

Additional strikes prevented the Russians from being able to fill in these gaps and leveled command centers at Kulbaki and troop concentrations in Sudzha. In each case, Ukrainian reconnaissance drones adjusted the targeting with lethal precision, ensuring no survivors and capturing the events on footage.

Belgorod strikes block Russian reinforcements from stabilizing the front

On the eastern flank, Ukrainian aircraft struck across Belgorod to prevent Russian reinforcements from stabilizing the situation and trying to hit the Ukrainian counterattacks from the side. HAMMER bombs flattened enemy garrisons in Kozynka, while J-dams destroyed drone control posts at Repyakhivka.

Bridges and positions at Guevo and Grafivka were pounded, and strikes at Kolotylivka killed entire groups of infantry. By hammering both the staging grounds and supply arteries in Belgorod and Kursk, Ukraine ensured that Russian columns advancing toward Sumy were bled dry before even reaching the border.

Russia pulls units as offensive collapses, Ukraine controls the skies

Overall, what the Russian high command once threatened as a march on Sumy city now lies in ruins, its spearheads shattered by Ukrainian airpower and its command structure gutted with the evident result of a collapsed Russian offensive.

Russia has begun pulling units from this sector to reinforce Pokrovsk, a clear sign that the offensive has failed. Ukrainian air superiority, established by dismantling Russian air defenses and exploiting gaps with precision bombs, was the decisive factor, and for the Russian command, dreams of reaching the capital of Sumy are gone. For Ukraine, the skies over the region now belong firmly to them, and their dominance has rewritten the course of the campaign.

In our regular frontline report, we pair up with the military blogger Reporting from Ukraine to keep you informed about what is happening on the battlefield in the Russo-Ukrainian war

Ukrainian paratroopers destroyed a Russian armored convoy that was advancing toward Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast, using HIMARS missiles and FPV drones in a coordinated nighttime assault. The strike reportedly took place on 28 August and targeted a mechanized group that had been spotted 10 kilometers behind Russian lines.

HIMARS strike shatters Russian push from Prohres toward Pokrovsk

Militarnyi reports that drone operators from the Ivan Franko Group, part of the 79th Air Assault Brigade, detected the convoy moving from the settlement of Prohres toward Malynivka, a village east of Pokrovsk. The Russian column consisted of seven vehicles, including tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, and was carrying up to 100 soldiers—some of whom were advancing on motorcycles.

Once the target was confirmed, Ukrainian forces launched a HIMARS missile, striking the column during its movement. The initial hit disrupted the formation, after which drone operators joined the attack, targeting abandoned or disabled vehicles. A second missile strike completed the operation, according to the 79th Brigade.

Ukrainian paratroopers reported that the entire armored group was destroyed, and at least 50 Russian soldiers were killed. They believe the unit may have been part of a force recently redeployed from Russia’s Kursk Oblast, possibly including elements of the 155th Naval Infantry Brigade.

“The appearance of units near Pokrovsk from a different direction could explain the use of a large number of armored vehicles in an area where, for a long time, Russian forces had relied exclusively on small infantry groups to minimize losses from drones,” Militarnyi noted.

Faced with heavy losses and only limited territorial gains, Russian forces have previously shifted tactics—now infiltrating through the so-called “gray zone” under drone surveillance and concentrating troops for assault operations.